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MORE ART BASICS - YES, BUT CAN YOU DRAW?

© Gretchen Wms. Jurek

Drawing is the foundation of making good art. This is still my belief. Most people find that they are so “bad” at drawing around age eight that they give up. Most people in the U.S. do not have any more opportunity to draw, paint or do any of that kind of creating after elementary school. And if they have not had art classes in grade school, they will have an even harder time in high school trying to make anything look the way they want it to. Drawing is important for the way it teaches one to observe and contemplate shape, shadow and highlight, gesture and movement, pattern – all the basics of art.

Here are some links to some rather good drawings:

· http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/dep... at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan,

· http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/vie...

· http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm

· http://www.artchive.com/tours/drawings.h...

· http://www.worldgallery.co.uk/ Even thought this site has art for sale, it is still a good site.

I have several books on drawing on my shelves, and I will discuss each one a little bit here.

I was introduced to Kimon Nicolaides’ book and methods probably when I was still in high school, since my art teacher in that remote little town had had a wonderful university education in art. When I think of art “how-to” books, I always think of it first.

· “The Natural Way to Draw” by Kimon Nicolaides
Nicolaides was born in Washington D.C. in 1891, and he was expected to become educated so he could have a good job. His father definitely did not want him to become an artist! But he ran off to New York and supported himself by writing, framing pictures, and acting the part of an art student as a movie extra while he studied art there. His father was finally convinced, and financed his instruction at the excellent Art Students’ League. When the U.S. entered WWI, Nicolaides (I have never heard him called anything else) volunteered to go, and was given one particular assignment, while stationed in France, which involved the study of geographical contour maps. This opened him to the concept of “contour,” and he made it into the first exercise in this book. It has come so common now that most art students probably don’t even know how it came about. It is one of the ways that helps one to see, really observe. It isn’t a “topo” of anything, but it is a way to see and express the contours of any object. After the war, he stayed on in Paris for a year or so, and made art. He was given his first solo exhibit there. Back in New York, he continued to paint and began to teach at his old alma mater. It was there that he formulated the lessons which are presented in this book.

Calico Snoozing-Gretchen W Jurek-pasteldraw

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